It is well-known in the art how to prepare long rolls of tissue paper or the like, generally called "logs" rewinding equipment. The sheets which may be as wide as 5.0 meters are wound on a cardboard core, and these 5.0 meter long "logs" generally have an external diameter of 4" to 5".
After the logs are prepared, it is necessary to cut them into discreet lengths of approximately 5", which is the customary width to fit in the standard toilet-roll dispensing device in bathrooms and the like.
Log saws have been shown in many patents as, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,370,140; 3,213,734; 4,173,846 and 3,512,437.
Each of these devices have had one or more disadvantages which are overcome by the present invention, because the prior art fails to teach how, during the cutting operation, the logs can be guided, advanced, held during cutting, and then discharged, all while the rotary cutting saw or other cutting means moves back and forth on an arm provided with reciprocating or oscillating motion.
More importantly, and more recently, it has been desirable to produce rolls of toilet paper having a large external diameter.
In public premises, offices, industrial buildings and the like, there are frequently utilized paper rolls of large diameter, up to over 400 mm, for various uses, especially for sanitary use. These rolls are currently produced by unwinding a paper material from a long coil and by rewinding them onto a plurality of cores. The paper material unwinding from the coil is cut along lines parallel to the unwinding direction to form a plurality of strips of desired width. Each strip is rewound on a core thus forming a plurality of rolls.
During the unwinding, the cutting and the rewinding, the strips of paper material are disposed, side-by-side and, upon the simultaneous winding of more strips, there occur frequent overlappings between the edges of strips which are wound on adjacent cores. The formed rolls then overlap each other, are no longer detachable and, therefore, unusable.
Moreover, the production of rolls according to the above-mentioned technique implies the further disadvantage that the operation is discontinuous, that is to say, of start-stop type. This implies that the entire operation must be stopped upon the completion of a series of rolls in order to remove said rolls and replace them with empty cores in order to restart the production.
When it is desired to carry out an embossing, printing, or other working prior to the formation of the rolls so as to form a paper web having individual characteristics, all the element of the plant which perform the works on the web must cyclically be stopped and restarted. This is impossible in many cases owing to the high inertia of the embossing or printing rollers, for example. It thus follows that for rolls of large diameter produced according to the known technique, it is necessary to eliminate this type of personalization so that the finished roll is made up of a web lacking in impressions, embossments, decorations, personalizations, or other characteristics that might improve the commercial value thereof.